1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing device as defined in the opening part of claim 1.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a recording and/or reproducing device is described in, for example, the two European priority patent applications of Nov. 12, 1998 having the application numbers 98 890 335.7 and 98 890 336.5. This known recording and/or reproducing device has already been shown at the Comdex fair of Las Vegas in the USA from Nov. 15, 1998 and is known therefrom.
For detachably retaining the pull-out element the retaining means in the known recording and/or reproducing device have been provided with two angled latching levers which are each loaded by a spring, which levers are movable between a latching position and a release position and are resiliently urged towards their latching positions by the springs. When the two latching levers are in their latching positions a latching portion of each of the two latching levers is disposed before a latching projection of the pull-out element viewed in the pull-out direction, as a result of which the latching levers guarantee that during normal operation the pull-out element cannot be moved in the pull-out direction as long as the pull-out element is not coupled to a cassette-mounted coupling element. The two latching levers are adapted to cooperate with the cassette-mounted coupling element, i.e. a coupling pin, of a cassette that has been loaded into the recording and/or reproducing device, namely in such a manner that during coupling of the coupling pin to the pull-out element the two latching levers are moved from their latching positions into their release positions, as a result of which their latching functions are disabled and, as a consequence, the pull-out element together with the coupling pin coupled to it can be moved towards the take-up reel of the recording and/or reproducing device. When the pull-out element together with the coupling pin coupled to it is moved back to the inserted cassette by the take-up reel of the recording and/or reproducing device, which is achieved in that the supply reel accommodated in the inserted cassette is driven and the record carrier connected to the coupling element is consequently wound, the situation may arise in the known recording and/or reproducing device that the pull-out element and the coupling element coupled to it are moved back almost though not wholly into the original initial position, in which case the two latching levers cannot return into their latching positions. When in this undesired operating condition the inserted cassette including its coupling pin is removed from the known recording and/or reproducing device and subsequently the first actuating means are activated this results in the pull-out element being moved towards the take-up reel without being coupled to a coupling pin. As a result of this, the pull-out element can no longer be moved back towards the cassette with the aid of a record carrier accommodated in a cassette and the coupling pin connected to this record carrier. This results in a repair case because the pull-out element of the known recording and/or reproducing device can be moved back into its nominal position only by a repair. The situation described above, which can occur though only rarely, is undesirable.
It is an object of the invention to preclude the problems mentioned hereinbefore and to provide an improved recording and/or reproducing device.
According to the invention, in order to achieve said object, the characteristic features defined in the characterizing part of claim 1 have been provided in a recording and/or reproducing device of the type defined in the opening part of claim 1.
By providing the characteristic features in accordance with the invention it is achieved in a simple and reliable manner that in the case that the pull-out element is not in its nominal position after the coupling element of a cassette has been disengaged from the pull-out element, the pull-out element is reliably moved into its nominal position with the aid of the additional actuating means, the pull-out element then being moved into and retained in said nominal position with the aid of positioning means and latching means, as is also the case in the known recording and/or reproducing device described in the introduction.
In a recording and/or reproducing device in accordance with the invention the additional actuating means of the recording and/or reproducing device may be mounted stationarily and may be arranged in such a manner that the pull-out element retained by the retaining means enters into operative engagement with the stationarily mounted additional actuating means when the retaining means are moved. However, it has proved to be very advantageous if in a recording and/or reproducing device in accordance with the invention, in addition, the characteristic features as defined in claim 2 are provided. Such a construction is simple, saves space and further has the advantage that the actuating movement for the additional actuating means and, consequently, for the pull-out element, to move the pull-out element into its nominal position, is derived from the actuating movement of the retaining means which is performed anyway, as a result of which no separate drive means are required for the additional actuating means.
In a recording and/or reproducing device in accordance with the invention having cooperating actuating elements, it has further proved to be very advantageous when, in addition, the characteristic features as defined in claim 3 are provided. This provides a construction which excels in that it is particularly simple and the additional actuating means cooperate reliably with the retaining means.
In a recording and/or reproducing device in accordance with the invention it has further proved to be very advantageous when, in addition, the characteristic features as defined in claim 4 are provided. This results in a construction which has a particularly low friction and saves power.
The above-mentioned as well as further aspects of the invention will become apparent from the embodiment described hereinafter by way of example and will be elucidated with reference to this example.
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the drawings, which show an embodiment given by way of example but to which the invention is not limited.